But button-machine



(No Model.) 3 Sheets-Sheet L. Z. 3. PIERCE.

' BUTTON MACHINE. No. 279,180. Patented June 12,1883.

(No Model.) 3 Sheets-Sheet 2.

Z. B, PIERCE. I

BUTTON MACHINE.

N0. 2'79,1 80. Patented June 12,1883.

A (No Model.) 3 Sheets-Sheet a.

Z. B. PIERCE.

BUTTON MACHINE.

No. 279,180. Patented June 12,1883.

Witnesses,

UNITE STATES ZENAS B. PIERCE, OF ll-XUXTON, MASSACHUSET'lfi, ASSIGNOR OF ONEHALF TO HORATIOL. CUSHBIAN, OF SAME PLACE.

BUTTONx-MACHINE.

SPEGIFICAljIONforming part of Letters Patent No. 279,180, dated June 12, 1883.

' Applieation liled March 2, 1883. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern.- 7 drawingsinmy saidiormer patent, are marked Be it known that l, ZENAS B. PIERCE, of to correspond with the marking in said pat Taunton, in the county of Bristol and State of cut, in order to facilitate such reference there- Massachusetts, have invented a new and use to as may at any time hereafter be by any per- 5 fulImprovementin Button-Machines and Manson found necessary or desirable.

ufacture of Buttons, which will, in connection Having thus given an explanation of the with the accompanying drawings, be hereinseveral figures, I will now explain thevarious after fully described, and specifically defined features of my present invention, at the same in the appended claims. time referri-i'ig toand explaining so much of the 60 10 This invention has for its object certain imcoacting devices pertaining to said patent and provements in machines in and by which but shown in the drawings as may be requisite to tons formed of a plastic'material are both a clear understanding of said last invention molded into form, and have also the metallic and its mode of operation. eye inserted in such plastic body as the same In said views a represents a bracket secured 6 5 is being molded, my present invention being to bed B, and formed with a longitudinal reshown. as in connection with a machine for cess to receive and guide the ribbon b, as which Letters Patent of the United States No. shown in Figs. 1, 2, 3, l, and upon said bracket 243,723 were lssued on my application on the is central] y secured a trimming-die, 0", which 5th day of July, 1881., in which said machine coacts with male punch 11 in cutting theblanks the partly-molded blanks of the button were from ribbon If. haid male punch is seated in placed in the hopper-and were successively and carried by the vertically-reciprocating fed to the molding and eyeinserting devices, plunger 0*, which moves in. and is supported while my present invention has for its b 'ect by central hub, 1*, which is preferablyformed the cutting of the blanks from a strip or ribas an integral part of bracket 0, as shown, and 75 bon of prepared pulp or other suitable mateis seated in a recess in bed B. Said plunger rial, and the insertion of the eyes and mold is pivoted in thei'ront end of lever 12, which ing of the body during the same operation of lSIllVOilOtllll ears 7:", formed beneath bed B, said the machine. lever being vibrated on pivot 13 in said ears Figure 1. is a front elevation, showing my by devices such as are shown and described 80 present invention as embodied in ainachine in said former patent, or byanydesired means, embracing in other respects the features of my si'ich-vibrati on of the, lever-being regulated to said former invention, said figure, with the carry punch 14, not only through ribbon b", except-ion of my said present improvements, but to such height that it will coact with other being like Fig. 1 in my said former patent. dies, to be described, for inserting the eye in 85 Fig. 2 is an enlarged detached perspective the blank and molding the latter.

view, showing the blank-carrier, the feeding The button-eye 16, which is cut fromv wire and punching devices. Fig. 3 is a partial y, fed forward by rolls 1? against adjustable view of the parts shown in Fig. 2 and taken stop or gage 24, and is cut and beat by jaws fromthesamestandpoint. Figxetis a detached 1., over pin 16, in slide 6, and is also slightly 90 40 vertical section taken centrally and transbent on anvil 1.7, when it is carried forward versely through the parts shown in Fig. 3, and by said slide 6 until the end thereof is in conalso showing some additional parts. Fig. 5 tact with die-block 19, as shown in Figs. 4, 5, is also a detached vertical section, taken on when eye 18, which remains on said pin 16, is the same line as is at, but showing only a held centrally over die C and punch 1%, as 5 portion of that figure, and showing the button shown in Fig. 3. All which operations, from as in the act of being molded- Fig. 6 shows feeding-wire 11 forward by means of rolls P in side elevation and in plan a section of a to carrying iorward eye 18 over the punch 14, ribbon of pulp or other material, from, which are fully described in connection with the I cut the buttons. drawings in said former patent, and may be 100 In said several figures all. the parts shown, so accomplished, or by any other well-known which are duplicates of the parts shown in the means. As the eye 18 thus reaches its position, lever 12 is vibrated to raise punch 14, which, in conjunction with die 6-, cuts the blank or body 21 from ribbon If, and carrying the same above the die, as shown in Fig. 5, forces it upon the ends or prongs of the eye 18, thereby causing the latter to penetrate the blank, when by the united action of the punch, whose upperi'ace is concaved to form a halfdie, and the slide 6 and bar 19, each'of which constitutes a quarter-die, the blank is molded and set to form. \V hen thus molded slide 6 is retracted, when a clearer, 23, (fully de scribed in said patent,) sweeps the button from its seat in the end of punch 14: into discharge-chute 22, leaving the punch free to de scend and repeat the operation. In Fig. 4 punch 14 is shown as at the moment of acting upon ribbon while in Fig. 5 said plunger, as also the slide 6 and bar 19, are shown as co acting as an entire mold in molding the button after the insertion of the eye therein.

For the purpose of feeding the ribbon forward, at each descent of punch 14, a distance sufficient to allow the cutting oi a blank or button-body tl'lere'from, I arrange an angle-lever, P, pivoted at its lower end in bracket (1%, as shown, and carrying the pawlj'-, depressed by spring If, to engage and carry forward the ribbon, when said lever is itself moved forward. A relief-pawl, Z, pivoted in cars of bracket a and actuated by spring m'-, serves to hold the ribbon firmly in position, while lever I and its pawl make their retrograde movement.

For the purpose of actuating lever '2' its upper end is pivot-ally connected with the lower end of lever n, which is supported and vibrates upon pivot 12?, secured in standard A.

in the upper end of lever 19'' is arranged a pin or trundle, 15*, which travels in cam-groove '16-, formed in disk G, carried by arbor 0, through and by which arbor, either directly or indirectly, all the parts of the machine de scribed in my said patent were actuated, as is therein described. By thus cutting the blanks or bodies of the buttons successively from a ribbon automatically and positively fed forward in the order of the buttons being molded certainty of the presence of the blank in the molds at the desired point being a great improvement over the former method of supplying the blanks by means of a hopper, a conduit, or chute, and transmitting or impelling mechanism, all of which are by my present improvement rendered obsolete.

I claim as my invention 1. In a 'buttonqnachine, the combination of the ribbon supporting and guiding bracket male punch 14, and die (2", with means to actuate said punch and to feed tor-ward the ribbon so supported, and dies to insert eye 18 in the blank and to mold the latter, all substantially as specified.

2. In a button-machine, the combination of an eye-forming mechanism, an eye-inserting and button-body molding mechanism, and

mechanism for supporting, guiding, and feed ing the blank-supplying ribbon, and a cuttingpunch arranged in conjunction with a die to cut the blanks from the ribbon, and to coact in the molding thereof and the insertion of the eye therein, substantially as specified.

3. As an improvement in the manufacture of buttons, the herein-described method of suecessively and automatically cutting the blanks from an advancing ribbon, of suitable material in the order of such blanks being subjected to the eye-inserting and molding mechanism, substantially as specified.

4. The combination of grooved guiding and supporting bracket a", punch 14, die 0, lever '5 with its actuating-pawl f, the relief-pawl I", and means to actuate both said punch and lever, substantiallyas specified.

ZENAS B. PIERCE.

\Vitnesses S. L. CUSHMAN, ELISHA T. JACKSON. 

